New HIV Cases recorded in the Solomon Islands
The three new cases of HIV was announced by the under secretary of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Dr Chris Becha during the launching of the Solomon Islands 2015 Generation Sentinel Survey at Iron Bottom Sound Hotel last night.
A member of the Medical staff, Dr. Hendry Kako said, out of the three new cases, one case was detected at the beginning of the year while the other two were detected on the month of September and October respectively.
He said while two cases were detected in the provinces, one was detected here in the national capital Honiara.
Dr. Kako said the latest discovery of the three new HIV cases has brought the official record number of HIV cases in the country to 28 in total.
Out of the 28 official confirmed HIV cases 12 of them are already deceased while the other 16 are still alive, he said.
He said out of the 12 deceased cases, eight of them are males and four are females. And on the other hand, of the 16 HIV confirmed cases that are still alive, five of them are males and 11 are females, he added.
Asked about the estimated number of HIV cases in the country, Dr. Kako said they are using the ratio of 1:10 to do their estimation, and given the ratio that they are currently using, he said; “out of the 28 confirmed cases, an estimated number of 280 unconfirmed cases are currently carriers of HIV virus in the country as we speak now.”
While the number is quite alarming, Dr. Kako appeals to individual members of the general public to look after themselves to prevent them from contracting the disease which he says is avoidable based on ones disciplined behaviour.
Dr.Kako said he encourages members of the public to go for voluntary testing to know their HIV status. He said this is very important because it save lives.
The first HIV case in the country was recorded more than two decades ago back in 1994 and 21 years later the country has recorded 28 HIV confirmed cases.
Source: Solomon Star
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